How to Teach Context Clues Teaching context clues used to feel like a game of luck in my classroom.My students would come across an unfamiliar word, and—without fail—they’d either guess wildly or skip it entirely. Sound familiar? If you’ve ever wished your students had more confidence when encountering new words, you’re not alone. Context clues …
How to Build Reading Comprehension Skills with Text Evidence All Year If you’ve ever asked a student, “Where did you find that answer?” and gotten a shrug in return, you’re not alone. Helping kids slow down, return to the text, and find actual evidence is one of those small-but-mighty skills that can transform the way …
Summarizing with the S.W.B.S.T. Method Helping students summarize can be a challenge, but the S.W.B.S.T. (Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then) method is an easy-to-use strategy that breaks down the process of summarizing. It puts this skill into manageable steps for students. I love teaching with this method, because it allows students to focus on the …
Tips for teaching summarizing nonfiction Summarizing nonfiction can be tough for students to learn and for teachers to teach. From the start, students are encouraged to give “as many details as they can” from the text. They become experts at retelling. Then, summarizing is introduced and they are thrown a curveball, because no longer are …
Teaching Text Features of Nonfiction Why Teach Nonfiction Text Features? Having a solid understanding of nonfiction text features is crucial to our students comprehension of all nonfiction text. When they are familiar with the text features such as maps and captions, they’re truly able to understand an informational text at it’s fullest. What are Nonfiction …
Asking and Answering Questions At the start of each school year, I love to cover the “Ask and Answer Questions Standard” (CCSSR.L.2.1). This standard works perfectly for the beginning of the school year, because it’s relatively easy for students to get the hang of and essential when understanding the texts throughout the rest of the …
9 Fun and Engaging Fall Activities for 2nd Grade Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to teach. Heck, it’s one of my favorite times of the year period. Today I’ll share 9 fun and engaging fall activities for 2nd grade. 1. Fall Writing Journal With Writing Prompts One really great way …
Best Back to School Books + Reading Graphic Organizers The beginning of the school year is a magical time for building classroom community, establishing routines, and — my favorite — diving into meaningful read alouds. There’s something special about the way stories bring a class together, spark conversations, and set the tone for the year. …
Using Graphic Organizers For Reading Comprehension Are you using graphic organizers in your classroom? Let me tell you, they can be a game changer for directing students thinking and helping them comprehend what they’ve read. In this post I’ll share how using graphic organizers for reading comprehension can truly benefit your reading instruction. What Are …
HOW to Use Task Cards to Increase Reading Comprehension Do you use task cards during your reading instruction? From my very first weeks as an elementary school teacher, I could tell how beneficial task cards were to my reading instruction. Task cards are loaded with benefits, but possibly my favorite is the fact that …
